4.1 The 3- liter reser­voir’s cir­cu­lar mouth and wide shape—which fa­cil­i­tate its comfy lower-lum­bar po­si­tion­ing— make it more dif­fi­cult to clean than the en­velopestyle blad­ders found on all other packs here ex­cept the Gre­gory. The drink­ing tube un­clips from the blad­der for easy re­fills.

Com­fort

4.9 This pack has the most ro­bust sus­pen­sion of any in the test. An alu­minum perime­ter wire adds rigid sup­port, and a com­part­ment at the bot­tom of the pack­bag holds the reser­voir at your hips, eas­ing strain on your back. “I car­ried 3 liters of wa­ter, a growler, and gear—about 20 pounds—up Ore­gon’s 10,358-foot South Sis­ter,” says one tester. “My shoulders and hips never felt sore.” Trade­off: It’s heavy.